CZ282569B6 - Process for preparing an article from emulsified fat - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a cream, to a churned product made therefrom, and to a processes for producing such a cream and such a product. Experience has shown that it is difficult to prepare products which simultaneously exhibit a stability, texture and ease of manufacture similar to that of butter, without sacrificing the nutritional qualities of margarine by the incorporation of saturated fats, particularly butterfat. We have now determined that the use of interesterified fat avoids the difficulties of post hardening. The invention provides a process for the production of a spread which comprises the steps of: a) preparing a vegetable fat cream comprising at least one interesterified fat having an solid fat index at 10 DEG C of greater than 30% and preferably less than 50%, b) dosing into the said vegetable fat cream 1-25% on total fat phase of vegetable oil, preferably around 15%, of an oil with a higher iodine value than the interesterified fat, c) churning the cream/fat mixture to obtain a water in oil emulsion spread having a solid fat index at 10 DEG C of greater than 20% and preferably less than 50%. Preferably, the fat blend of the cream comprises 40-60 wt.% of a liquid oil and 60-40 wt.% of an interesterified blend of one or more fats rich in palmitic and/or lauric fatty acids together with one or more fats rich in eighteen carbon fatty acid residues. Preferably the surface-weighted mean diameter (D3,2) of the dispersed droplets in the cream should be prior to churning in the range 3-8 mu m, preferably 3-6 mu m, most preferably 4-5 mu m.

Description

A process for producing an emulsified fat product

Technical field

The invention relates to a process for the manufacture of a product from emulsified fat and to the product thus obtained.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Cream emulsions are oil-in-water emulsions. They are well known materials and are used as starting materials and intermediates in the production of various types of edible fats including butter and various types of margarine. In these processes, the dispersed fat phase from the emulsion is converted into a continuous fat phase in which an aqueous phase is present in dispersed form.

In the case of dairy cream, in particular in the conventional production of butter, this process is usually carried out by cooling the cream and then processing it in a churn.

In the text of the application and the claims, the term churning means processes and apparatus in which an edible fat emulsion is formed at a relatively low shear stress, wherein the aqueous component of the buttermilk type is separated. Examples of various types of such methods and devices are any of the methods well known in the art. The term dairy fat means fats derived from milk and milk-derived liquids, while non-dairy fat means fats that can be obtained, for example, from vegetable sources, fats of animal origin, and also fats from fish. Animal fat is any fat derived from animal sources, such as tallow and lard, but does not include dairy fats. When the terms oil and fat are used, these terms have the same meaning.

During the churning phase separation occurs, a large part of the aqueous phase being excreted as buttermilk and the fat phase is concentrated in the form of butter fat. A large amount of literary data deals with the conditions of this process and the physical changes that occur during this butter churning.

A process for preparing margarine in a similar manner is also known. During the manufacture of margarine, as described in British Patent No. 2,157, 1869, animal fat, optionally fractionated, with the same melting point as milk fat is dispersed in the non-fat phase of the milk and the product obtained is cooled with ice water, thereby solidifying emulsions.

Attempts have also been made to obtain similar products by mixing milk fat containing materials with vegetable fats followed by processing the resulting mixture into margarine. For the avoidance of doubt, these procedures do not include the use of phase inversion (Votator-RTM). Although it was initially proposed to carry out the churning in this way, there was no phase separation, so that the process cannot be used in the production of margarines.

Compressed products containing both milk and vegetable fat have been marketed in the US under the BUTTERINES brand with great commercial success by Zanders Creamery, Wisconsin. To produce such products, the mixture of dairy cream and partially hydrogenated soybean oil is churled to produce a product containing 50% milk fat and 50% vegetable fat.

European Patent Specification No. 106,620 (UK Milk Marketing Board) discloses a process in which cream is separated from cow's milk and mixed with soybean oil

And processed into a product containing the same amount of solid fat as butter, thereby overcoming seasonal variations in butter stiffness. Up to 75% of the total fat content may consist of triglycerides other than milk without compromising theological properties of the product. However, in order to maintain product stiffness, it was necessary to use hydrogenated fats of non-dairy origin, the preferred combination of vegetable and milk fat according to said patent containing both types of fats in an approximately 50:50 ratio.

European Patent Publication No. 155 246 (Svenska MR upa and ARLA) describes a process for treating a composition containing only vegetable fat, but the iodine number of the composition must correspond to the iodine number of the butter. Although it is again mentioned in the exemplary section of this patent that the most preferred products contain a milk fat and a vegetable fat in a ratio of 50:50, it is clear that the quality of the resulting product deteriorates as the vegetable fat content increases.

In the examples, it is shown that if the vegetable fat content is increased up to 80%, the product is only acceptable after some hesitation. If the vegetable fat content increases up to 90%, the product is considered too soft for normal use. From these data, one of skill in the art can conclude that even if the corresponding low iodine value condition is met, it is unlikely that products containing only non-dairy fat can achieve theological properties of the butter after similar processing.

European Patent Specification No. 155,246 also discusses the so-called BREGOTT technology in which vegetable oil is added to cream up to 70% of the total fat content. This process was first described in British Patent Specification No. 1,217,395 and consists in mixing the cream with up to 35% vegetable oil before churning, but only after the cream has been acidified. Products containing more than 35% vegetable oil are too soft for normal use.

Another procedure has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,370 (Madison). It is proposed to treat a cream-like material containing skimmed milk and vegetable oil to obtain a droplet size that is approximately the size of the fat droplets in the dairy cream, after which the non-dairy cream is mixed with the dairy cream and the resulting mixture is churning. This patent does not disclose fat containing only vegetable oil, but using 60% vegetable oil and 40% cream. The resulting product contains about 40% butter in the fat phase.

British Patent Specification No. 1,216,568 discloses a cream containing vegetable fat which can be churled to produce a product comprising 14% polyunsaturated fatty acids, 35.5% monounsaturated aliphatic acids and 50.5% saturated aliphatic acids. The iodine value of this product is approximately 60.

From the foregoing, it is clear that the prior art is described in a number of applications and patents describing butter-like fats obtained by churning. However, experience has shown that these known products, which at the same time have stability and consistency similar to butter and are similarly produced, are only acceptable if the nutritional values of the vegetable fats in margarine are reduced by adding saturated fats, especially butter.

European Patent Specification No. 347 007 (Unilever) discloses a process for producing improved products for use for the same purposes as butter, using a specific homogenization step and a particular churning process. The mixture to be processed contains milk fat, soybean oil and hardened soybean oil. Said products have a vegetable fat content higher than 70% and an iodine value higher than 85. Despite substantial success in obtaining butter-like fat properties, it has been found that some fats result in products with too much subsequent solidification upon storage.

-2GB 282569 B6

Subsequent solidification is a process in which the fats have an increased rigidity after a certain storage period. This phenomenon may be advantageous when using some of the above-mentioned (Votator) procedures often creates undesirable problems. Too much subsequent solidification may result in products that are too rigid for comfortable use at some temperatures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It has now been found that the use of at least one interesterified fat having a specific solids can completely eliminate the problems associated with subsequent solidification.

The products obtained have a slightly increased iodine value and a high vegetable fat content. The vegetable fat content is higher than in the products marketed under the BUTTERINES brand and is sufficiently stiff for use without further subsequent solidification.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a process for the manufacture of an emulsified fat product which comprises:

(a) prepare cream from vegetable fat containing at least one interesterified fat with a solids content of more than 30% measured by NMR at 10 ° C;

b) adding to the said vegetable fat cream in the amount of 1 to 25% of the total fat phase,

(c) the cream-fat mixture is churried to form a water-in-oil emulsion with a solid fat index of more than 20% as measured by NMR at 10 ° C.

Unless otherwise stated, the solid fat index is measured by NMR spectroscopy. A suitable procedure is described in Haighton et al., Fette Seifen Anstrichmittel No. 5, 1978, 80, p. 180.

Vegetable fat cream typically contains fats with a lower iodine value than the added vegetable oil. The preferred amount of added oil is in the range of 10 to 20% by weight and in particular 15% by weight.

While it is not yet possible to be bound by any theory, it can be observed that the presence of too much oil in the cream can cause the foam to break up in the early stages of churning. This avoids the aeration of cream and churning becomes difficult, if not impossible. It is therefore desirable to inject oil into the device. A suitable temperature for this injection is in the range of 0 to 10 ° C, preferably about 5 ° C.

In general, the process according to the invention can be used in continuous churning, a suitable device for use in the process being, for example, a continuous fritsch butter production device.

It is not expected that the presence of a certain amount of dairy cream will make it necessary to add further emulsifiers for good churning. However, it is preferred to add substances that break the oil-in-water emulsion into the churning mixture. Suitable substances of this type are, for example, emulsifiers which promote the formation of a water-in-oil emulsion.

Suitable emulsifiers for water-in-oil emulsions are saturated monoglycerides, tween surfactants, lactic acid esters and lecithins. These substances are preferably present in an amount of 0.05 to 1% by weight of the fat phase.

-3 CZ 282569 B6

Preferably, no dairy cream is added to the non-dairy cream during processing. However, the addition of approximately equal or lower amounts of dairy cream or milk fat is not excluded. Thus, the process of the invention comprises processing into products containing less than 60% butter in the fat phase, preferably at most 50% and in particular at most 30% butter.

In a preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention, the aqueous phase of vegetable fat cream comprises a milk-derived liquid, preferably buttermilk or skimmed milk. The skim milk used may be natural skim milk or milk obtained by reconstituting the defatted milk powder in a suitable aqueous environment. Buttermilk, which is a by-product of churning, either fresh or reconstituted, can be used as a component of the aqueous phase. As already mentioned, the fat component of cream is generally non-dairy fats. These fats can be modified by hydrogenation, as is well known in the manufacture of margarines. However, the use of hydrogenated fats should be as limited as possible where a high content of unsaturated or polyunsaturated fats is desired.

In a preferred embodiment of the process of the invention, the base uninjected portion of the fat phase comprises one to 100% interesterified fat having a solid fat index of 30 to 50% at 10 ° C and containing 0 to 99% non-interesterified fat. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the solid fat index of the entire fat phase at 10 ° C is in the range of 20 to 50%. An advantage of the relatively small amount of solid at low temperature is that the product at a lower temperature is better spread than butter. However, if the solid is low at low temperature and decreases sharply as the temperature rises, the product will be too soft to be used as table fat. By suitable selection of interesterified fats, it is possible to obtain an advantageous curve of the respective curve so as to obtain a product which is sufficiently soft when stored in a refrigerator and sufficiently solid at room temperature.

A suitable blend of fats to form non-dairy cream is a blend of 40-60% by weight of liquid oil and 60-40% by weight of an interesterified blend of one or more palmitic and / or lauric rich fats together with one or more residue rich fats. aliphatic acids containing 18 carbon atoms. A particularly suitable fat blend is interesterified fat blends of palm oil and palm oil seeds, or fractions of these fats with liquid vegetable oil and / or hydrogenated vegetable oil. The fractions contain palm stearin palm fat. Suitable vegetable oils are sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, safflower oil and soybean oil and mixtures of two or more of these oils.

Preferably, the weighted average diameter (D ₃₂ ) of the dispersed droplets in the cream should be in the range of 3 to 8 microns before churning, preferably at most 6 and especially in the range of 4 to 5 microns.

The churning is preferably carried out at a temperature in the range of 0 to 10 ° C.

The invention also relates to spreadable edible emulsions containing 70 to 100% by weight of vegetable fat in the fat phase having a solid fat index of more than 20% measured by NMR spectrum at 10 ° C, and an iodine value in the range of 65 to 85.

The following examples illustrate the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The fat phase of the following composition is placed in the feed tank:

% soybean oil,% interesterified oil.

-4GB 282569 B6

The tank is provided with a cuff containing water, which keeps the tank content at 60 ° C. The interesterified fat was a 1: 1: 2 mixture of palm seed oil, palm stearin and hardened rapeseed oil.

After reaching thermal equilibrium, 0.2% by weight of the monoglyceride emulsifier and optionally the same amount of lecithin were added to the fat phase. Buttermilk was placed in a second tank, also provided with a cuff filled with water at 60 ° C, and allowed to reach thermal equilibrium.

A liquid unreinforced soybean oil was fed to a third tank equipped with a 5 ° C water cuff.

Preparation of cream

The fat phase and the aqueous phase were fed from the first and second tanks through a pump to a static mixer, homogenizer and pasteurizer.

The static mixer was provided with a series of baffles that defined a spiral flow path of the fat-aqueous phase mixture. The flow rate was chosen such that the mixture contained 40 wt% fat and 60 wt% aqueous phase.

A Rannie homogenizer was used, a two-stage homogenizer operating with an overall pressure drop of 0.2 to 0.3 MPa. Homogenization was carried out at 60 ° C.

The pasteurization device was a plate heat exchanger. The pasteurization temperature was usually higher than 80 ° C, the suitable temperature being 92 ° C.

The resulting cream was transferred to another ripening tank and kept overnight at 5 ° C to crystallize part of the fat blend. Cream analysis showed that the weighted average diameter (D ₃₂ ) of the dispersed fat droplets was of the order of 4.9 microns and the solids content of the fat component was 32.1% at 10 ° C.

Churning

After maturation, the cream was transferred from the maturing tank through a tube where it was heated to a chilling temperature of 10 ° C to a chilling apparatus. 15% of the oil from the third tank was injected into the cream stream at an oil temperature of 5 ° C. An Ahlbom pip 316/20 hammer was used at a speed of 1600 to 2000, preferably 900 rpm, and 1 ton of cream was processed per hour. The resulting product was packaged in tubes.

The product is spreadable at refrigerator temperature, does not undergo too much subsequent solidification and has a dull, butter-like appearance. The product is also acceptable in terms of mouth melting and taste sensations.

Further experiments were carried out using an aqueous solution consisting of the following ingredients instead of buttermilk or milk phase:

(a) acidified whey powder;

(b) a mixture of reconstituted acidified whey powder and acidified buttermilk,

(c) reconstituted, acidified buttermilk powder.

Acceptable products were obtained using all three aqueous phases.

-5GB 282569 B6

Typical results for various N values are shown in the following table. These results show that the use of injected oil will make it possible to obtain a softer acceptable product with a higher iodine number.

N10 N20 N30 N35 IV without oil injection when using Votator 32.1 13 3 0 73 when 15% oil is injected when churning 26 11 2 0 81

Hardness measurement

The products prepared by the process of the invention were compared to products prepared by another process but having the same vegetable fat content. Hardness was measured immediately after preparation and then again after 3 days, with or without raising the temperature to 23 ° C during these 3 days. If the temperature has been increased, there is an increased subsequent solidification. However, before the hardness measurement, the temperature was again lowered to the measurement temperature after a three-day increase.

product in the begining hardness (according to Stevens) in g / cm ² at 10 ° C after 3 days (temperature 23 ° C) after 3 days AND 219 209 242 (B) 338 470 336 C 105 390 170 D 1450 X X E 615 X X

European Patent Specification No. 347,007 discloses that there is too much subsequent solidification without giving values.

Product A is obtained by the process of the invention with the addition of 21% oil prior to churning. The product spreads well and there is little subsequent solidification.

Product B is obtained by the process of the invention with the addition of 21% oil prior to churning, but unlike the invention, a partially hardened vegetable oil that has not been interesterified has been added. The stiffness at 10 ° C is higher than 300, which is the upper limit for good spreadability. In addition, there is a large subsequent solidification.

Product C was obtained by votator treatment, using an emulsion of water and oil containing the same ingredients as in Product A. A hardness at 10 ° C is acceptable, but a large subsequent solidification occurs.

Products D and E are products obtained by the method of Examples 1 and 2 of European Patent Specification No. 347,007. These products were prepared by a different churning process using a high vegetable fat blend. Even without subsequent solidification, both products are too stiff to spread at 10 ° C.

From the above data, it is clear that the products prepared by the churning process of the present invention have significantly improved properties, in particular in terms of their stiffness at refrigerator temperature and reduced tendency to subsequent solidification.

-6GB 282569 B6

With respect to the solid fat index, this index was determined using the NMR spectrum as described in Fette, Seifen, Anstrichmittel, No. 5, pp. 181, 1978.

According to this publication, the solid phase index of a given sample can be expressed as follows:

(number of protons in solid phase) x 100% of solid phase = ---------------------------- (number of protons in sample total) = 100 Ss / iss SO + wherein signals of the solid phase NMR in the implementation of the SS and the magnitude of the signal from the liquid phase s ₁ and the initial signal amplitude is designated as _(s + s).

Claims (5)

PATENT CLAIMS CLAIMS 1. A process for the manufacture of an emulsified fat product which comprises: (a) prepare cream from vegetable fat containing at least one interesterified fat with a solids index of more than 30% measured by NMR at 10 ° C; b) vegetable oil is added to the vegetable fat cream in an amount of 1 to 25 wt. based on the total fat phase, and (c) the cream-fat mixture is churried to form a water-in-oil emulsion with a solid fat index of more than 20% as measured by NMR at 10 ° C. The method according to claim 1, wherein the vegetable fat cream comprises fats with a lower iodine value than the added vegetable oil. Method according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the vegetable oil in step b) is added to the cream in an amount of 10 to 20, in particular 15% by weight. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the temperature of the injected oil is 0 to 10, preferably 5 ° C. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the uninjected portion of the fat phase comprises 1 to 100% interesterified fat having a solid fat index in the range of 30 to 50% at 10 ° C, the remainder being non-interesterified fat. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the solid fat index in the whole fat phase at a temperature of 10 ° C is higher than 20, but not more than 50%. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that it comprises: even a portion of the cream contains 40-60% liquid oil and 60-40% interesterified one or more palmitic and / or lauric fats together? or a plurality of fats containing 18-carbon aliphatic acid residues. Method according to claim 7, characterized in that the fat phase of the cream consists of an interesterified mixture of palm fat and palm kernel fat, or a fraction thereof, and liquid vegetable oil and / or hydrogenated vegetable oil. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the weighted average diameter (D ₃₂ ) of the dispersed fat droplets in the cream before churning is 3 to 8, preferably 3 to 6 and especially 4 to 5 micrometers.